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Sunday, March 20, 2011

Fearless Females ~ Elusive or Brickwall Ancestor

March 20 ~ Is there a female ancestor who is your brick wall? Why? List possible sources for finding more information

I have many females ancestors on my list of "Brick Walls" but the one that I know the least amount of information about and have spent the most years searching for (44years) is my Paternal Grandmother, Ethel Stevens. The reason for the lack of knowledge is my dad is adopted and his birth records are sealed. Up until last year I didn't even know her name but after an amazing find on Ancestry.com I at last had that. So what do I know about Ethel Stevens so far?

I Know:

1.She was born in England, the only Non-Identifying Information I was able to obtain.

2. She lived in Canada in 1927, most likely Manitoba since this is where my dad was born.

Possible Sources :1. Ancestry.com: I continue to search all Family tree's with the Name of Ethel Stevens, being born in England or Canada from around 1890 to 1910.

2. I still continue to write the Canadian Government for more information: My last letter was sent on Feb. 02 2011, I hope to hear back soon.

For now these are the only 2 resources I can think of, I would love to hear from others who may have some ideas on where to go next in this search.

Lisa Alzo, has brought back a 31-day series of blogging themes called Fearless Females, in honor of celebrating March as Women's History Month. To read more about this series visit Lisa's blog theAccidental Genealogist

2 comments:

I hate to be the bearer of bad news but, according to FreeBMD, there were roughly 320 Ethel Stevens's born in England & Wales between 1890 and 1910, which is rather a large number to whittle down. I'd say you probably need more information ... which you knew already, of course.

Ancestry only lists 26 Ethel Stevens's arriving in Canada between 1890 and 1927 (Canadian Passenger Lists, 1865-1935). Of these, only 9 were born after 1890, which is a much better starting point. Of course she may have arrived via the US.

You also need to consider that STEVENS may have been her married name, and that she arrived in Canada under another surname altogether.

320 isn't so bad and of course 26 is even better :) My last letter to the government was in hopes that they would at least give me a birth date for either parent since I now know the names of the parents... I have searched the birth fathers name as well, which I hoped would be easier to trace, but really hasn't been and of course just to make it a wee bit harder they were not married. *heavy Sigh*

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